All the Diamonds in the World (idea)

Bruce Cockburn wrote this song while he was in Stockholm in 1973, and initially released it on his 1974 album, Salt, Sun and Time. He keeps its message short, its musical arrangement spare, its imagery simple, and yet it still carries a feeling of warmth and joy. Beneath the simple imagery there are other layers of meaning to uncover. It is also easy to appreciate its lyrical beauty without needing to explore its symbolic depths first.

At its heart, this song clearly expresses Cockburn's heartfelt Christian beliefs, but not to proselytize or pressure the listener in any way. This is an expression of love for the beauty of the world's creator as seen in the world's own beauty. It has a feeling of quietly confident generosity to it, not the shrill demanding insistence seen in some music and other art connected to religious beliefs.